Hi, I’m the Internet.
Do you like the Muppets? You do? Great! So you must know nothing about them! Here’s a list of astounding Muppet facts that you surely have never heard before, starting with the stuff you might have known, and ending with stuff you definitely could not have possibly found anywhere else (even though our source is Wikipedia). Caution: this may blow your mind.
1. Kermit the Frog was made out of Jim Henson’s mother’s spring coat.
Or something like that. I think Kevin Clash said it was his grandmother’s, and I thought I heard from somewhere that is was more of a dress, but you get the idea.
2. Kermit wasn’t always a frog!
For a while, he was La Rana René, whatever that means.
3. The Muppets were originally created for Jim Henson’s first show Sam and Friends in 1955.
We assume they were transported back in time when he used them on Afternoon before doing Sam and Friends.
4. Kermit the Frog’s song “The Rainbow Connection” was nominated for an Oscar.
It lost to a song that you haven’t heard before, that didn’t sell as well as “Rainbow Connection,” and that didn’t end up on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest songs in American cinema like “Rainbow Connection” did. Great decision, Oscar!
5. Snuffy used to be Big Bird’s imaginary friend.
Basically, we’re assuming you have no knowledge of what happened on Sesame Street before the ’90s, so we could tell you that the guy who played Droppo in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was a regular on Sesame Street and you would have to take our word for it.
6. The term Muppet is a combination of the words “puppet” and “marionette.”
You should believe that this is totally true even though a marionette is a puppet, the Muppets don’t have strings like marionettes do, and Jim Henson emphasized repeatedly that he called them “Muppets” just because he liked the sound of it. But since this rumor was started by Henson himself, we’ll keep spreading it.
7. The vast majority of the Muppets are left-handed.
This is done as a tribute to To Kill a Mockingbird‘s character Bob Ewell, and to lefty Jimi Hendrix.
8. Fozzie was named after someone (we think).
Fozzie might be named after Frank Oz, or more likely Faz Fazakas, but probably not the film Hot Fuzz.
9. In The Muppet Movie, the Muppets were originally performed by puppeteers.
This tradition has been continued in most Muppet productions to honor Jim Henson, but since Muppet Babies did not honor this tradition, Granny has been shunned.
10. Oscar the Grouch used to be ORANGE!!!!!!!!!
As you can see from the photo, Oscar was not always the iconic blue color we’re used to, and the Muppets have evolved a lot.
BONUS: The Veggie Monster was just a background extra who used to have fangs before Brian Henson retired, so Kevin Clash started performing him in the style of Peggy Lee, who wrote the songs for both The Muppet Christmas Carol and The Muppet Movie, which are two of the only eight Muppet movies that have been produced to this day by the Jim Henson Company, which created Sesame Street, the first puppet show to go viral with a performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody” for 1,969 years straight. Wow.
Err, of course they are performed by puppeteers. That picture is telly monster however Oscar was orange.